Success of the first positive impact bond issuance contributing to the financing of a low-carbon economy

Click the image to discover the 27 Positive Impact Bond projects contributing to avoid more than 6 million tons of CO2eq emissions

Societe Generale successfully issued the first ever Positive Impact Bond, a EUR 500m 5-years fixed-rate senior note, demonstrating its commitment to finding innovative financial solutions to fund the transition to a low-carbon economy in compliance with the best available Environmental and Social standards. The transaction attracted strong demand from investors with a final order book exceeding EUR 3 bn on the back of more than 170 investors.

The proceeds will be used exclusively to fund projects contributing to the fight against climate change. These projects, focused on renewable energy and collective transport, are strictly selected in order to comply with the definition of “Positive Impact Finance” as agreed by leading banks within the United Nations Environmental Program–Financial Initiative (UNEP-FI) in view of the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris.

Positive impact finance : a different approach to closing the financing gap

POSITIVE IMPACT is defined as an activity having :

a positive impact on at least one of the 3 pillars of sustainable development (environment, social and economic development)

provided an appropriate management of the potential negative impacts

All the projects selected are evaluated through Société Générale Positive Impact Assessment Framework which covers both the projects potential negative and positive impacts. This evaluation is carried out by environmental and social specialists considering a minimum of 17 types of impacts.